Delivering one solid performance in all aspects, we’re astounded by the DROID 4’s calling quality. Specifically, voices are fairly clear sounding on both ends of the line – with no distortion or background noise muddying things. Meanwhile, its earpiece may be a bit neutral with its overall volume, but there’s no issue using the speakerphone as it produces strong tones with distinctive voices.

Always a concern for us, we’re happy to say that the DROID 4 doesn’t fall victim to that annoying loss of 4G LTE connectivity like some of its distinguished rivals, and in fact, we rarely saw it occurring. Maintaining an average set of bars in high coverage areas, we didn’t experience any dropped calls during our testing.

After being spoiled by the superfluous battery life of the DROID RAZR MAXX, we know that the DROID 4 isn’t going to be in the same league with its 1,785 mAh battery. Rather, we’re brought back to the chilling reality of yet another 4G LTE smartphone with poor battery life. In fact, we’re able to get close to the 10 hour mark of normal usage before being warned about low battery. So yes, we’ll continue to dream on about battery life, but in the meantime, it’s something that requires constant charging whenever and wherever possible.

Conclusion:

Some will argue that the midas touch and allure of the DROID family has faded, as it seems as though the torch has been handed over to other more prominent devices like the DROID RAZR. However, when you think about it more, the original DROID family was never known for bringing killer spec’d hardware, but rather, it balanced things out with its quality performance and unyielding presence. Surely, it doesn’t blatantly come off as being a WOW device, however, we can honestly say that it packs along the best landscape style QWERTY keyboard on any smartphone out there.

In our ever demanding society, we sometimes get lost in the hype and expectations surrounding certain devices. However, if there’s one thing we’re grateful about the Motorola DROID 4, is that it sticks to a very reasonable $199.99 on-contract pricing, which won’t break the bank like some of the premium priced 4G LTE smartphones out there. In hindsight though, Motorola has eclipsed the possibilities of what we expect out of a QWERTY packing smartphone, but deep down inside of us, we’re still yearning for that monster DROID-only smartphone that’s packing an eye-catching design, cutting-edge hardware, and a totally new experience to prove to everyone that it’s still a force to be reckoned with.

Pros: Awesome keyboard - If you're a keyboard fan, this can't be beat.

Size - For me, it's the perfect size. I like that it's not as big as other Verizon phones, yet still has a very impressive display.

Battery life - I don't live in a 4G environment, but I have everything else constantly running - GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. Today was a fairly normal usage day for me (a little web-surfing, some texts and phone calls, streaming radio to and from work, even downloaded a couple of apps). Right now I'm sitting at 40% charge after 15h 38m 53s (per the phone) on battery power. I can't think of many reasons why I would need more.

Smart Actions App - Great app! Makes it very easy to seamlessly move from my home (wifi network) to my car (bluetooth on, Pandora opens automatically, wifi off) to the office (silent phone) without ever having to touch the phone.

Cons: Plastic construction already has some scratches from putting it into and out of my zippered pocket. They're very small (I only noticed them because I was looking very closely for "cons") and only on the plastic around the screen. The screen itself is Gorilla Glass and is not scratching at all. Not a big deal to me, but some people really want their phones to remain in pristine condition.

Bottom line, this is a great 4G LTE phone by any standard. The fact that it has that great keyboard literally puts it in a class by itself.

Insignificant devices? Like the above poster stated, the OG Droid startered it all. Sure the display may or may not be bad. But it's an above average device with a QWERTY KYBD and LTE. Something a lot of physical kybd users (myself included) had been waiting for.

This incarnation of the device is hardly improved. I'm just having a little fun on a Friday with my first post, didn't realize it'd be taken so personally. Sure, the original was great. So was the first flip phone, carphone, bagphone, telegraph... Now it's just milking the franchise every few quarters and the sales are diminishing every time a new version hits. You can't honestly say this newest generation phone is still a significant device in the oversaturated VZ market. I'd think VZ would agree by way of thier instant price drop.

Okay, not a worthy successor. But, if taken on it's own, the D4 is a still a better QWERTY device than anything else out there right now. Certainly a better option than Blackberries, way more powerful with a top notch keyboard than any other phone on Big Red, and what are you going to do: drop down to the Captivate Slide on AT&T and it's slower network?

I am very, very disappointed that Moto did not view the Droid line as an elite device. It deserves better. But, if you want a real keyboard, there still is no better option.

the Droid 4 is actually going to be a good bit faster than the Droid 3 if the difference between the Droid Bionic and the Droid Razr is any indication. i think it has to do with tweaking Motorola may have done with the drivers for the OMAP4 in 2.3.5+ as even the benchmarks behave differently.

I checked one out today and it doesn't feel as bad as you guys make it sound. it's about like the Droid 3 with a textured back. I am however disappointed about the lack of a removable battery. now really the only trade offs for the Droid 4 over the Razr are it's fantastic Keyboard and it's compact size along with a higher pixel density display.

Doesn't an 8.5 seem awfully high a score for this device? It has a terrible screen, relatively weak battery life without a removable battery, lacklustre design,poor camera quality, poor video quality, only offers the user half of the advertised storage, and runs outdated firmware.

Does having a good keyboard as the only real plus warrant such a high score?

Super Amoled is not a smartphone industry standard and I would hardly call the screen terrible even in comparison to that. Lackluster, sure, but there's nothing terrible about it. The battery life is average for a modern Motorola device, certainly not a Maxx (could you imagine the size of such a phone?) but not subpar. As for design, lets leave our own aesthetic opinions out of the equation when it comes to criticism- fans of the Droid series may love the design direction it's taking so who are you to call it lackluster? As for the camera, again, have you ever heard of a Verizon Motorola phone with a camera worth bragging about? The camera is on par with the contemporary market. If nothing else, it's better because the shutter is instant and the camera autofocuses, unlike previous Droid models which would focus before each shot causing a long delay. Audio is great on the videos and the videos themselves are decent.

The only valid claims you really have are no stock ICS and non removable battery, which by now are old news. The half of the advertised storage is a BIG minus though. That being said, there's nothing subpar about this phone. The specs are not spectacular but it is a very respectable and modern phone in that regard.

When it comes down to it, this phone is for a niche market. And this is the single best, and thinnest, 4G QWERTY slider in that market. Period.

The thing is, I'm not talking about what the device actually merits. Whether your points are true or not isn't quite what I'm getting at. I am simplt basing my assessment on the content of the review itself.

In the words of the review:

Screen: "...but we’re saddened to find this DROID outfitted with such an inferior display... FT LCD display that’s tremendously dulled by its washed out appearance, low-contrast, and poor viewing angles."

Battery: "Rather, we’re brought back to the chilling reality of yet another 4G LTE smartphone with poor battery life. In fact, we’re able to get close to the 10 hour mark of normal usage before being warned about low battery. So yes, we’ll continue to dream on about battery life, but in the meantime, it’s something that requires constant charging whenever and wherever possible."

Design: "...this new model obviously features a tweaked design – though, as a whole, it’s doesn’t come off as captivating."

Camera: "Yet, its overall quality still pales in comparison to the stellar photo-centric devices on the market, but at least it’s tolerable enough to accept."

Video: "Ehh…they’re not stellar in quality, but its 1080p video recording is nonetheless better than its predecessor."

Storage: "Advertised as offering 16GB of memory, the DROID 4 instead boasts 8GB out of the box for media purposes, with another 2.36GB reserved strictly for apps – meaning, you’ll probably want to invest in adding a microSD card of some size to supplement its capacity."

Firmware: "Unfortunately, there’s nothing new whatsoever with the experience on the DROID 4, as it retains the same one as its predecessor, but even more revolting, is that it’s running on top of Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread. Yeah, we know that’s a downer considering we’re expecting nothing less than Ice Cream Sandwich at this point, but nevertheless, Motorola assures us that it’ll be upgraded sometime in Q2 2012."

Whether these points are accurate or I agree with them is not my point. My issue is based on these criteria, they rate the device at 8.5. To me it simply doesn't add up. Maybe the device does warrant an 8.5. But based off of this review, I wouldn't think so.

Funny, I didn't even look at the number score. The paragraphs felt pretty scathing to me.

It seemed to me like the reviewer WANTED to like the phone, out of some misplaced respect for the original Droid.

Thing is... it's not the original. Motorola has consitently dropped the ball on their droid line for the past two years. Between bad launches, delayed launches, awkward phones, software glitches and bugs galore, a lack of support for a 2 month old device, and planned obsolescence within only 6 months... I honestly don't understand why anyone takes that company seriously anymore.

Read the rest of my comments. The review makes negative point after negative point. Going by the guts of the review, the device has an awesome keyboard while everything else is mediocre. This device is given an 8.5. That, to me, makes no sense.

I'm not sure what isn't clear about this. The score does not reflect the comments.

The Bold 9900 falls into a similar category. A slew of mediocre points followed up by a great keyboard. It got a 7.

Your problem is your taking his review out of context. For example, he states "we" are saddened with the display. Like all smartphone reviewers if the phone isn't super amoled it's below standards.

He next states the battery life is poor, but yeah he is able to get 10 hrs of normal usage. Well, this is from PC World - "We're still awaiting the results of our official PCWorld labs battery test, but in my informal hands-on use, I got a full day of activity out of the Droid 4 while checking my email, browsing the Web, playing a level or two on Dead Space, and fielding calls". I have read other site, blogs etc saying the same thing. The biggest complaint about the battery has been the fact it's non removeable.

Next he clearly states while the camera isn't stellar like some of the phones on the market. It's still adequate. Again he clearly states with the video, not stellar but adequate.

Next with firmware he again clearly states they were bummed because they were expecting ICS instead of 2.3.6 Gingerbread. And this is a problem with all smartphone reviewers. They expect every new phone to come out with ICS even though only the Nexus has ICS. And even though it's been said a "million times" newer and some older phones are schedule to get ICS sometime this year.

So truly his only real complaint is the non battery removal and the misleading storage. Nothing he said above about was poor, it just wasn't what he preferred. It's the reason the phone recieved 8.5 rating instead of something lower.

If your interpretation of what was reviewed is true though, the best that can be said for all of those points is that they are "adequate".

If that is the case, how does a phone that is labelled as adequate with a great keyboard warrant an 8.5? Compare this to the review done for the RAZR MAXX, which also got an 8.5. Yet that phone is praised for it's design, gets mild praise for its screen, and big points for the battery. Does having a good keyboard make up for the difference?

An 8.5 should, and has been a great score for a device to have. Comments should reflect that though. There should be several elements on a phone that are above "adequate" for it to warrant that score.

Ok. This article seems to cover all the bases on it except what the phone quality is like on droid 4. Can someone tell me if the phone quality is like. I like the idea that it has both touch and a qwerty, but this is feature one of the most important since it is still a phone and must function like one before I buy

8 of them. Massive number of phones. Number one contributor to the customer's typical "things are moving too fast, everything is obsolete within two months!' complaint. But here's the worst part.

Of those 8 phones, 7 of them have had widespread bugs and software glitches. Always software. I realize this is anecdotal, but I know at Verizon I fix far more motorola droids than any HTC, LG, and Samsung androids combined. Talking it over with my co-workers suggests the same thing.

What I'm getting at is... 87.5% of moto's launches on Verizon have had terrible, crippling software issues on a relatively large percentage of costumer's phones. Why do we keep treating them like they're a good, solid company?

@firelightx. Don't know which of those 8 you are saying wasn't plagued by problems, but the Droid 3 was/is a great phone. Biggest complaint was that it didn't have 4G. Since it seems like all 4G phones released around that time had connectivity problems, it was actually a good thing it was left out. Only other complaint was camera quality, which is hardly a major problem, and was fixed by update anyway.

This might seem like a funny question to ask on a review of a cell phone, but you folks didn't seem to mention how it works as a phone.
Am I the only person who uses my droid to make phone calls now and then?

So far, from other views of the droid 4, android central, phonescoop, pcmags, cnet, etc. All rave about the call quality. Unfortunately, this reviewer left it out I am not sure why. To me it seems like he was too busy wrting about why he didn't like or felt the phone was stellar than writing about what made the phone worthy of a 8.5 rating.

Froyo comes out, a phone that comes out shortly after "how dare they not have froyo", then Gingerbread comes out "how dare they not have gingerbread", then of course ice cream sandwich "how dare they not have ics" and so on. We'll see the same when Jelly Bean comes out.

Fact of the matter is, ICS is still new and a large portion of apps dont support it yet. It makes more sense to support the currently most popular format that runs the most apps and then update to ICS when app developers more heavily support it.

The Droid 4's keyboard while great for a landscape one, has the same issues of other landscape ones. Basically, the result is I can type so much faster on a portrait keyboard than on a landscape one. Now I'm sure that the larger keyboard IS good for people with arthritis like my dad but how big is that market? (He doesn't push data, just pulls it anyway and therefore loves his iPhone.)

So why can't MOTO and other manufacturers produce an Android phone with a PHYSICAL PORTRAIT keyboard like those on Blackberry's, old Palms, etc??? With so many landscape Android offerings, one would think that there would be a good differentiated portrait model -- NOT.

This is the biggest and most expensive piece of s**t I ever owned. This mother f**king device froze 4 times just today alone. I had to force close it each time. The internet gets disconnected everyday. This is just not worth having it. I feel extremely stupid buying it. I want my money back.

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